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07.04.2009Brief History of Poland

 Brief History of Poland

Poland’s history is full of facts and events far more interesting than any novelist could come up with. The area of modern Poland has been shaped  through centuries, ranging from a vast empire to a teritory with no statehood at all, and the culture Poland represents is a blend of both East and West.
Teritory of Poland was first inhabited by Slav tribes, who were Indo-Europeans coming from the south. First signs of settlement come from 8-5 thousand years BC, and these were fortified settlements, mostly in the southern part of today’s Poland. A good example is Biskupin, an 2700 year old fortified town, since 1930’s an archaeological reservation.
The Polish state officially came into being around 966 AD, when duke of a mighty tribe of Polanie, Mieszko 1st accepted Christianity in to enhance the country’s prestige, reinforce his power and prevent Germans from riding the country under the cause of Christianization. Duke Mieszko and his son, the first king Boleslaw Chrobry (the Brave) from the Piast dynasty, kept on uniting Slav tribes by conquer, trade or marriage.
Following centuries were a turmoil of civil wars, pagan rebellions and military conflicts with neighbouring conutries, yet Poland managed to develop commerce and achieve relative social stabilization. It was in 14th century that Poland managed to finally unite internally and in 1385 to make a pact with Lithuania, that lasted for two hundred years. Lithuanian Grand Duke Wladyslaw Jagiello became Polish king and started Jagiellonian dynasty. His heirs ruled Czech, Hungary and were wed to all European royal families. In the first half of the 15th century Poland managed also to conquer Teutonic Knights, who were tyranizing Poland and invading Lithuania under the cover of Christianization.
16th century in Poland was a period of might and prosperity, called ‘the Golden Age’. Polish statesmen and scientists, such as Copernicus, were widely known in Europe; universities and commerce flourished. The knights had become noblemen and started to play active role in governing the country  due to numerous priviledges (Polish ‘Neminem captivabimus’ edict from 1432 anticipated English ‘Habeas Corpus Act’ by 256 years!). Poland was also a safe haven for people of different denominations from all corners of Europe during the Reformation, as religious freedom was guaranteed by the king himself.
After the Jagiellonian dynasty ceased in 1537, kings became elected by vote of noblemen deputies. Until the end of the 18th century Poland has gone through many wars, intertwined with short prosperity periods.  Afterwards, due to internal anarchy and political weakness caused by the noblemen’s slackness, Poland was partitioned by Russia, Prussia and Austria and lost its statehood for 125 years.
Poland reappeared on the map of Europe in 1918, after World War I, and for 20 years tried as hard as possible to  unite and modernize parts of the country that were spllit for so long and treated like conquered provinces. However, in 1939 the nightmare of World War II started, as Poland was attacked from both the West by the Nazis and the East by the Russians. Both these invaders were doing their best to eliminate Polish inteligentsia and influential citizens – the Nazis killed 5 million Poles (3 mln were Jewish) in death camps and the communists by mass murdering ca. 21 thousand officers in Russian forests near Katyn and Charkov.
The end of WW II in 1945 brought communist domination over Poland, hidden under a mask of ‘soviet friendship’. Socializm dominated all fields of life, and serously affected industry, what led to worker’s strikes in 1980’s and the birth of Solidarity movement. In 1989 the communist government was forced to enable first free election and Poland became a sovereign republic; this gave rise to abolishing communism in other European countries.

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